Red Leaf publisher John Michael Helmer interviewed at Jazmaonline:
forums.jazmaonline.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2500John Helmer
Publisher/Writer
Published by: Red Leaf Comics
Interviewed by: Richard Vasseur/Jazma VP
Posted: 04/12/2010
Rich: How was Red Leaf Comics started?
John: Red Leaf Comics was formed to bring together two decades of ideas, characters, and stories that I have been collecting. It’s an outlet for my creativity and the creativity of others. I’ve met some pretty amazing creators along the way so far: Stuart Berryhill, Rowel Roque, Antonio Lamas, Rusty Gilligan, Rodolfo Buscagalia, Joe Badon, and famed novelist C.L. Werner.
Rich: What are "The Leaf" and "Northforce" about?
John: In a nutshell, The Leaf is Canada’s Greatest Hero! He’s a reluctant hero that ends up getting in over his head, eventually risking everything as he tries to settle into the mantle of the legend. His grandfather, his father, and now Michael MacSorly. He’s an everyman in every situation.
The Leaf actually goes back to 1987 when I created The Leaf as a mechanical Robot running around Canada causing trouble. I had a dear friend, who is a creator himself, challenge me to write an origin story for the character and The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero was born. Flash forward to 2005 when my college buddy Brad Eastburn and I wrote and drew a four page adventure titled The Leaf Summer Slam 2005. It was our first stab at creating a comic and we self-published 500 copies. A few years later I was able to re-letter and reprint the story Mark F Davis’ Surprising Theater #1 and the response was very positive. Surprising Theater #2 and #3 had new Leaf stories and this led to the launch of my own company to bring together new stories and characters. The Red Leaf website was launched in February this year and our first issue The Leaf #1 debuted in October.
NorthForce is the modern version of The IMPERIALS. It’s a group of elite heroes drafted by an ambitious Canadian general to protect Canada from threats within and throughout the dominion. If it threatens Canada ---NorthForce is on their way. It’s a quick response team designed to operate with minimal resources. During World War II, Winston Churchill had The IMPERIALS with The Golden Age Leaf, Walter MacSorly. In the 1960’s and 70’s, Pierre Trudeau had The Silver Age Leaf, James MacSorly at his disposal. He was essentially a one man wrecking crew. NorthForce is a team of today’s heroes and features The Modern Leaf, Michael MacSorly.
Rich: Who are the talented people that work on these comics?
John: I met Stuart Berryhill working on an unpublished fan project in 2007 with a whole bunch of other creators. We were teamed together to do a small, five page section of that story. When I began to develop The Leaf character in 2009, I contacted him for additional stories. Stu has draw four Leaf tales to date: “D-Day”, “Terror from the Sky”, “Calling London” and “The Hoax”. He has also drawn two cover for the first and second issue of The Leaf. He’s a phenomenal artist who keeps getting better and better! I have a running gag with Stu and it goes like this, “If you keep improving, you’re going to draw yourself out of the company! I won’t be able to afford your art anymore!”
Randy Valiente is a hard-working artist who resides in the Phillipines. Randy put a lot of effort into the 26 page Modern Leaf origin story in issue number two of Surprising Theater, which is now available. Randy has drawn two Modern Leaf tales: “Living Ghosts” and “Redemption Road”.
Rusty Gilligan is an industry veteran who can ink with the best of ‘em! Rusty is hard at work inking a cover to several Leaf issues. He has a keen eye for depth, light source, and texture. His inks are the best.
T. Warren Montgomery.
What else can I say? His lettering is second to none. He’s the glue that has held the Red and the Leaf together on the page. Without him, well I shudder to think what that road would have been like.
One of our greatest secrets is novelist C.L. Werner. He’s a master craftsmen with a pen and has had over 14 novels published by War Hammer, the Black Library. Every time I think I have written a great story, he grabs a hold of it and twists my plot, cranking out every drop of story telling. He’s a genius.
Our website was designed by Brandon Wraggle. He took a crude gaggle of pages and created a really dynamic set of web pages. He built the web store from scratch!
Rich: Would you like to see "Northforce" in printed form?
John: NorthForce web comic that appears on our website
www.redleafcomics.com is scheduled for eighty pages ---that’s 240 weekly strips! When we reach twenty pages, we’ll print the story in paper format. The entire run is planned for a trade paperback when it’s completed.
As for our current print plans, NorthForce is scheduled to appear in The Leaf #5 in an eight page story titled “The Frozen City” This is the story of a group of Canadian superheroes who battle robotic abominable snowmen and a torrential blizzard that has paralyzed ALL of Toronto, only to find that their fiercest enemy is not the evil genius who has created the monsters to cover a masterful theft, but themselves.
Canadian superheroes: The Leaf, Neutralator, Gadget Girl, and The Mountie are summoned by General Bordeaux when a formidable storm blankets Toronto, paralyzing the entire city and halting everything to a standstill. As the city is evacuated and the army seems powerless to help, a legion of robotic snowmen trundle across the city clearing the last refugees out. Its a disguise, a plan so genius that it almost works, except NorthForce is able to fight their way into the city and… well you’ll have to read the rest!
Fighting amongst them, Northforce overcomes the odds and saves the day.
Canada is safe tonight!
Rich: Why are all these comics set in Canada?
John: NorthForce and The Leaf are set in Canada, but the rest of the Red leaf Universe is diverse and exciting. Sky Watcher is set in every UFO sighting location imaginable.
Skywatcher is the story of a government official who is declared insane and sent to an asylum where he is forced into believing he is an alien trapped in a human body who then escapes from the psychiatric prison, only to find that those who are chasing him are trying to hide the real truth of who he actually is. Paul Houston has done the first two pages for the web comic and chapter one is currently online at
www.redleafcomics.com. His art is fantastic and atmospheric. Sky Watcher #1 is scheduled to hit the streets in March of 2011. It will reprint the first five pages of the web comic and showcase other talents as well in an anthology format.
Dune, Master Spy is an adventure tale set in Egypt during World War II. Joe Badon has turned in four pages so far and the story will be toned by Michael Rickaby and lettered by T. Warren Montgomery. Joe had supplied art for a six page story that appeared in The Leaf #1. It starred Johnny Dingo, a werewolf character developed by C.L. Werner.
Rich: What other comics is Red Leaf Comics producing?
John: We have The Leaf plotted out through issue eight. Sky Watcher is planned for four issues in print. Dune, Master Spy is scheduled for web comic run and then in print form as a twenty page comic book.
The Nether Men is the story of four brothers spawned from hell, eternally walking the Earth as blood-thirsty vampires driven to conquering humans, only to find that their hardest struggles lay within the family and not with humanity.
In the Red Leaf Universe vampires have plundered human blood for thousands of years. With only a handful in existence, they have chosen to not interfere with the plight of the other non-human creatures such as The Huskie or the werewolves of Australia. They believe that Man would turn on them if they meddled in the age old game of predator vs. prey. There are ONLY four vampires ---all brothers that were turned during a single, cataclysmic event. At the dawn of Christ, religious canon tells of a child of God born to Mary and Joseph. It does not detail the four brothers of Hell that rose up through the cracks of the underworld that very same day, born to a tired, angry woman with revenge in her blood. These four children of the flames grew into monsters, draining blood and leaving a trail of death that would rival the Son of Christ in the battle for the hearts and souls of men. Christian doctrine states that one day, the Son of God will return to the Earth ---the four brothers await his arrival.
Rich: Do you have any ideas for other comics? And what is next for Red Leaf Comics?
John: There are several sci-fi properties which will appear soon on the website and in print. Check out the website for announcements.
Rich: How do you find keeping a small independent comic company alive and running?
John: It takes a lot of energy!!! Emails seem to bounce around every day and I feel like a traffic cop sending files here and artwork there. Sometimes I catch myself typing story notes to the wrong artist and have to look at a master sheet to get it straight. Remember the old movies with the policeman standing in the middle of the street directing vehicles. That’s me with a hockey jersey on!
Rich: Where do your ideas for writing come from?
John: Several sources. I use a lot of real world experiences to develop characters. I read a lot about World War II for reference. And, I scour the internet for interesting snippets which spark my imagination.
Rich: Would you like to travel to the Red Leaf Universe and meet the characters as real people?
John: Yes! Walter MacSorly, the Golden Age Leaf is a darn good guy. I’d like to take him out for a sandwich and ask him how he beat the Nazis and made it through that terrible war.
Rich: How can someone contact you?
John: Our website with all the FREE web comics is
www.redleafcomics.com. I can be reached at redleafcomics@gmail.com.
We are also on Face Book at:
www.facebook.com/redleafcomicsRich: Any words for readers of Red Leaf Comics?
John: Red leaf has FREE web comics every week from The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero to Sky Watcher. Give us a try and if you like it, we have print books available at our online store.
Richard Vasseur